To Deal with Death
by Sunechirei
Summary: She's my best friend. She's the one I love more than anyone else in the world, and he's hurting her. Hurting her by suffering himself. How am I supposed to deal with that?


**This was a request by Mikanatsume134. **

**I got motivation for this one shot in English class when I was supposed to be writing my research paper... hm... maybe I should have worked on that instead. Hm...**

**Anyway, this is rather... um... sad, and a little weird at the end, but I like how it turned out XD I don't care if no one else does O.o**

**So, read, enjoy, and review please :D**

**~Sunechirei  
**

* * *

To say the hospital was busy was an understatement. Phones were ringing off the hook, nurses were rushing around with clipboards and stethoscopes, doctors were yelling, and all of the patients in the ER were complaining. To me, and my best friend, it was really annoying to hear the after effects of such a large car wreck. We were sitting on the second floor of the hospital, and we could hear everything that was happening down there.

Honestly, I didn't care about those people.

The only thing I cared about was how my friend was doing as she watched her boyfriend of three years die.

He lay there, breathing shallow, with his eyes closed, and an obvious fever burning on his face. Though he'd tried to hide his illness from her, after collapsing at a Christmas party, it'd become impossible for him to do so.

I hated him for hiding it from her.

I love her; she's not only my best friend, but she's practically my sister. The only person who will deal with my crap before her own, drop everything and come find me if she thinks something's wrong with my life.

So naturally, I do the same thing for her.

Which is why I'm here with her right now, feeling the need to kill the guy she's crying over because he's making her cry. If I do that, though, she'd just be even sadder, and honestly, she's really ugly when she cries. It sounds horrible of me to say, but it's the God honest truth, and I'm sticking to it, no matter how depressed she is.

"Hey, do you want me to get you something to drink?" I offered, even though it felt weird to be so generous sounding. She shook her head, and reached out to grab his hand.

"I just want you to stay with me," she muttered, laying her head on the bed. "If something happens and you're gone, I won't know what to do."

Dang, my chance to escape the depressing air that was this room slipped through my fingers.

Man, some friend I am.

My best friend's boyfriend is dying, and I only care about myself. Maybe Brother's right… maybe I do need an attitude change.

Nah.

I wanted to complain, I really did, but I kept my mouth shut instead, braving every terrifying moment when his life was on the brink of leaving him. I had to admit, I was really sad. Sure, I didn't like him that much, and sure, most of the time I wished he would just disappear from our lives so I could have my best friend back, but I didn't want him to die. When I found out he had a horrible heart condition that usually killed it's victims by the time they were twenty, I felt so guilty for wishing he was gone.

Plus, he makes her so happy… how could I want her to not be happy?

I guess it was more me wishing I could be the one who made her smile every day again.

I miss that.

After about an hour of sitting in silence, his breathing began to calm down a bit, and his heart beat steadied, so she began to smile again, even though this was only going to last a few seconds.

_Let her have her happiness,_ I told myself when I was tempted to tell her this, _She hasn't been happy in almost two months. _

"I hope he wakes up," she murmured, griping his hand tighter, "I want to wish him a happy birthday."

Right, it was his birthday. He turned twenty today. The age when the rest of them died.

It was then I got the ominous feeling that she would never talk to him again.

The sudden beeping from his monitor confirmed that fear.

I stood up instantly, my eyes flashing to the monitor to see what was going on. His BP was dropping, and really fast, as was his pulse, and his oxygen level. Next to me, she had started to cry again, looking around confused, standing up as well.

"What's going on?" She asked me, brown eyes wide. I felt my heart drop. What could I tell her? He was dying, and really fast. Even the nurses coming in with their special medicine and machinery would probably be unable to stop this. If it had been the first time, maybe, but not the fifth….

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," one of the nurses said to her, but she didn't move, still holding onto his hand. "Miss!"

"Come on," I grumbled, grabbing her by the arm. "We have to get out of here so they can do their jo-"

Then he flat lined.

"No!" She screamed, struggling against my grip. It was hard to keep her back, but somehow I managed to pull her out of the room as she started to sob. "No, Natsume, please wake up, Natsume!"

"Mikan, we need to get out of here," I said, dragging her out of the room.

"Natsume..."

The two of us watched in horror as doctors and nurses attended to the raven-haired man in the hospital room. The pulled off his oxygen mask and shocked his heart, once, twice, three times, before Mikan nearly collapsed in my arms. Looking down at her, I decided to try and cover her eyes, hide her from what was happening, hugging her, but she pulled away from me and watched with wide eyes.

_How could she be so strong?_

But was she strong, or was she just clinging to the last moment of her boyfriend's life?

Then, they pulled away. They stopped trying to revive him. They put their medicines and machines away, and turned off the monitor. Mikan sank to her knees, tears streaming down her face, and a doctor looked at his watch, calling time of death.

Slowly, all the nurses trotted out of the room, looking depressed. They always liked him, that guy, Mikan's boyfriend, her lover. He was cold, but still nice to them, and they loved Mikan when she showed up. A bright ray of sunshine, they called her.

She wasn't one now.

"Natsume..." Mikan's voice was quiet, pathetic, a sound I'd never though I would hear from my best friend.

"Mikan," I called out, but she stumbled away from me before I could say anything else.

"I'm sorry, Hotaru... I need to be... I need to be..." She was extremely slow and quiet as she walked to the hospital room. "I need to be alone..."


End file.
